Five Ways to Bring JOY Back Into Your Writing Practice
When I was in college taking my lit courses an awful thing happened. I stopped reading. I read all the coursework that was assigned, but I stopped reading for fun. There was so much reading assigned and so much writing and so much talking about both reading and writing that I stopped doing any of that for fun when I had a choice.
For a quick minute, I even wondered if I’d made a horrible error in my major. I sometimes didn’t even enjoy reading the books we were assigned—Sister Carrie, As I Lay Dying, House of Mirth. (Okay, make that A LOT of times I didn’t enjoy reading the books we were assigned.) I enjoyed them on an intellectual level. But that only took me so far.
How could I be an English major who didn’t like reading?
You know what saved me? Harry Potter. Of course.
Home for summer break, my little brother was reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. I picked it up and guiltily enjoyed a few chapters...and then a few more...and then a few more.
Just like that I fell back in love with reading.
I didn’t try extra hard or make charts or book goals. I just found a book I loved and didn’t have to pretend to enjoy (“well the symbolism of the golden bracelets in House of Mirth clearly shows the bondage the main character was under…”). I could just like what I liked.
The same is true of writing.
You know there were so many times in my writing practice where I found myself going through the motions—or feeling guilty for NOT going through them. I would second guess my choice of creative pursuits. I would wonder If I was really cut out to be a writer after all—I mean what writer has to force herself to write?
But where is the joy in that?
Seriously, I am asking, where is the joy in that approach to writing?
It’s nowhere, that’s where. If this is you, I want you to keep reading because I’m going to tell you how to inject a whole lot of joy back into your writing practice. In this blog post I’m going to outline five steps you can take to bring the joy back to your writing life.
Buckle up, babe. Here we go.
Step One: Figure out your why.
Why do you want to write? Why not spend your time doing other things? If you’re passionate about writing or even just about stories, there is a reason for that. Dig in and figure out where that comes from. Then take that and create a vision for your writing life. That might sound hokey or trite but it’s not. It gives you direction. Knowing why other people write won’t work. You have to figure out why it matters to YOU.
Step two: Tap into the stories you truly love.
We don’t love all stories equally. And every person has their very own storyprint (I made that up, but that should be a word, right?), like a fingerprint but made up out of the books and characters and plots and struggles and themes that really speak to them. Spend some time brainstorming what these stories are for you and then figure out WHY they speak to you so much.
Step three: Chase the magic cookies.
Magic cookies are something I learned from Susan Dennard’s newsletter. She describes them as the scenes you LOVE to read and love to write. Those super-gratifying moments in stories. Sometimes we buy into the lie that writing should be hard or lots of work, but what if it doesn’t have to be that way most of the time? What if we can write the things that we would want to read, write the things that make us giggle or smile or cry instead of the things we think we’re supposed to write, the things that sound like a novel? What would embracing that freedom do for your writing life?
Step four: Take all of these pieces and start a project that you want to write.
And when I say want to write I mean REALLY WANT to write. NOT the thing that you’ve made the most progress on. NOT the thing that fits well in the current publishing marketplace. NOT the thing that you started but now kind of hate. The thing that you really want to write, that you’d write and revel in even if you knew that no one else would ever see a word of it.
Want a worksheet to help you dig deeper into these ideas and find joy in your writing life again? I got you! You can download it here. (Note: If you already have access to the Inkling Secret Library, I’ve uploaded it there for you already!)
There is one last step here that I think is very important. Because I know that even the most amazing writing practice, the best story we’ve ever told, will require some work, some discipline, and some getting our butt in the chair moments even if we don’t feel like it. So here is the last step, the secret sauce to any amazing, happy, joyful, wild, fun, weird writing life:
Step five: If you get stuck, learn.
The secret I learned is that when I don’t want to write, it’s often related to my skill level not my level of motivation or discipline. The idea of writing the next scene becomes horribly overwhelming because something isn’t working, and I don’t know what it is. Or the idea of sitting to write my novel freaks me out because it’s too overwhelming to write a whole blasted book and I don’t know what I’m doing. So don’t stop writing, start learning. Pick up craft books, take a course, analyze a movie or a book you are reading, chat with other writers about things that are bugging you with your story. Read about the creative life and read about story structure and read about craft and read in your genre.
Life is too short, and this magical old world is too full of good things to waste time on a writing practice that drains you dry. Build one that brings you joy. Find the story that lights you up.
And go write it.
Finding joy in telling your stories, learning and growing in your story craft, and writing the stories you love to read are KEY pieces of my book coaching philosophy.
My writers are: HP nerds, deep thinkers, big dreamers, with a drive to grow in their craft and an abundance of enthusiasm for bringing light and hope to the darkness. If that sounds like you and you have a story you want to write, I’d love to help you reach your goals. Click here if you want to learn more about working with me.
